Peace Interview

Peace are fast becoming the hottest band on everyone’s lips. After the success of their album ‘In Love’, the youthful Birmingham boys have announced their debut Australian tour, which is set to take place in September 2013. We took the opportunity to catch up with drummer Dominic Boyce at this pivotal point in Peace’s musical career to find out what drives them and why “they’re never content with anything”…

Hi Dom, How are you?

I’m good thanks, yourself?

Not bad, thank you! So you guys are pretty much everywhere at the moment! Is that something that you ever expected to happen when you first started out?

No, no! Not at all. You think about things like this when you’re a kid and, y’know, you’re dreaming about being in a band or whatever but it’s really weird. Well, it’s not weird, it’s great, I love it but we do get around! It’s a lot more travelling than you think.

When you were dreaming of being in a band, did you ever imagine it would be as much hard work?

Yeah, that’s it, isn’t it? You don’t really dream of the idea of being worked hard. Like, “oh yeah, I hope one day I’ll get to sit in the back of a van for 12 hours!”

Slogging through these pesky interviews…

Yeah, exactly, but it’s cool. I’m not complaining about anything.

Do you think that the Birmingham music scene you grew up in has influenced your sound at all?

I don’t think it’s influenced our sound, but I would say it influenced our attitude as musicians. Because when we first started going we were playing in Birmingham loads and there really wasn’t much of a scene. However, in the House and Techno scene, the attitudes of the DJs from Birmingham and around the world, and the way that they treated each other, was something that we wanted to have in the way we played.

So having a certain closeness is important?

Yeah, exactly and like the mutual respect for people. There were no egos, people weren’t afraid to be like “man I love your stuff”. Whereas I think in the band world, there’s quite a lot of people who feel like they have to pretend that they’re too cool all the time. And I’ve never been cool!

You’ve just announced your debut Australian tour. Are you excited?

We’re very excited! Apparently, there are koala bears you can hang out with which sounds pretty good!

Is there anything in particular that you actually want to do when you’re out there, besides play music?

Well, we’ll be there in spring, so it’s going to be good-ish weather I think. I just want to hang out on beaches. Because I don’t know how cliché it is, but it does seem to be a thing that Australians just love to do.

On top of the Aussie tour, you’ve also just announced your biggest UK headline dates as of yet. How are you planning on developing your live shows to fit these venues?

When we come to do these shows, it’s going to be the first time we’ve had a production crew. We’ve always just turned up, played our gigs and then thrown it all in the back of a van or whatever. So this time there’s going to be a production team which means visually it might be more exciting. Maybe there’ll be a cheeky bit of fireworks if we can clear that one! Maybe…

You’ve had loads of support from the likes of NME and you’re also doing loads of the main UK festivals this year. Do you feel as though you’re where you want to be in your musical career right now?

Yeah, we’re definitely happy to be a part of what we’re doing. I definitely think it’s an exciting time for bands like us and bands who are just starting up. But without meaning to sound greedy, it’s just that so far we’ve never been content with anything. It’s not like we’ve ever said “It’s not good enough, we need more!” or anything. We’re just not really in a position to sit back and be like “right, we’ve done it boys, let’s go on holiday for a month”. We just want to keep going, really.

What’s been the biggest highlight so far, then?

So far this year, I reckon Glastonbury has to be up there!

And how was it playing Glastonbury?

It was cool! No matter how many shows we do, even if it’s sold out, all of us are still like “shit, what if no one turns up?” and Glastonbury was very much like that because it’s a BIG stage so we were a bit worried about that but we walked out and the place was packed.

Are you an experienced festival-goer yourself?

Yeah! I’d never been to Glastonbury before, though. I’ve been to Reading a few times and some smaller ones locally to where we’re from. But it’s nice to go from the other side. Not to sound too boring but you do appreciate the nice toilets, showers and food and all that stuff. It is nice.

New bands are cropping up everywhere but do you have anyone in particular that you’re listening to at the moment?

Splash are great, I love them and I’ve managed to get hold of their record and it’s really, really good. Apart from them, we’re touring with a band called Super Foods who are worryingly good. Every time they play before us, it’s like “how can we top that?!” But those two are the ones I’m like really stoked about at the moment.

And that’s all. Thanks so much for your time Dom!

Peace Australian Tour Dates
Friday 12th September – The Eagle Bar, La Trobe Uni, ?Melbourne
Saturday 14th September – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Sunday 15th September – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Tuesday 17th September – Canberra University, Canberra
Thursday 19th September – Newcastle University, Neewcastle
Friday 20th September – Wollongong University, Wollongong
Saturday 21th September – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Monday 23rd – The Zoo, Brisbane

By Bryony Curtis